Foxed by Jay Hogan

Narrated by Gary Furlong

We’re slowly seeing more characters in their forties appearing in romance novels, even though they’re still a fairly small minority. Romantic leads in their fifties, however, are still quite rare, and to find two of them in the same book – as the central couple – is even rarer. Jay Hogan adds to the small pile with her standalone contemporary romance Foxed, the story of a divorced silver-fox grandfather and a happily single high-school principal who aren’t looking for love when it blindsides them.

Fifty-five-year-old Jed Marshall is pretty content with his life. His classic car restoration business is doing well, and he loves spending time with his granddaughter, Bridie – although of late, he’s started to feel as though he’s being taken just a bit for granted, the man with his own life and own interests starting to disappear into the background in favour of the doting granddad and convenient babysitter. He never says no – partly because he still feels guilty at not spending a great deal of time with his own kids when they were young – but he can’t help being just a little bit miffed at not having as much time as usual to work on his own restoration projects.

Jed has always known he’s bisexual, but meeting the woman he would go on to marry and have a family with when he was just fifteen meant coming out was moot. Married in his early twenties and a father shortly afterwards, Jed was perfectly happy and never felt anything was missing from his life – and even though he’s been divorced for a number of years, he’s continued to push aside the part of him that’s attracted to men, reasoning that as he’s not looking for a relationship anyway, there’s no point in creating complications for himself. He’s gone this long without exploring that side of himself, and things are fine just as they are.

Until, that is, he met his daughter Abbie’s boss, Nash Collingwood, principal of the local high school. Nash is around Jed’s own age, he’s handsome, fit and comfortable in his own skin, exuding a confidence that is incredibly attractive, and for the first time in a long time, Jed feels the stirrings of attraction. But it can’t go anywhere. Nash is everything Jed has deliberately not thought about for the past forty years, and he’s certainly not about to start now.

Nash has never been all that interested in a relationship and has filled his life with good friends, a demanding job, LGBTQ activism and sexual partners whenever he wants them. At fifty-three, he spends a lot of time on his appearance – the gay scene can be brutal when it comes to ageing – but lately, has started to wonder if it’s all worth it, if maybe he wants more from life than a string of casual (and much younger) partners and an empty apartment. He’s been hoping for a chance to get to know Jed Marshall better ever since they met six months earlier, and when that chance presents itself at the staff Christmas party hosted by Jed’s daughter, he grabs it, joining Jed for a drink in a quiet corner of the garden.

Jed is surprised when Nash makes no secret of his interest (and is more than a bit impressed at his having the guts to put his cards on the table like that), and can admit (to himself at least) that he’s definitely attracted to him. But he’s still not going there, and he gently shuts Nash down. Nash can’t deny feeling disappointed – but faint heart never won… well, anything, and he decides to give it one more shot.

Foxed is a funny, sexy and sweet story about finding love later in life featuring two engaging and relatable characters with lots of life experience and its attendant baggage under their belts. Jed and Nash have wonderful chemistry and I really appreciated that the author has actually written two men in their fifties rather than two thirtysomethings and labelled them “older”. Speaking as someone who won’t see fifty again, the way she describes their grumbles about aches and pains and their insecurities about their middle-aged bodies is very realistic! Best of all, though, is the way Nash brings Jed to see himself as a man – rather than a dad and grandad – for the first time in years; he makes Jed feel sexy and I loved listening to Jed learning not to run himself down and to see himself through Nash’s eyes as an attractive, sexual being. In return, Jed is able to make Nash feel more comfortable in his mature body; he’s spent years working out, waxing, plucking and whatever else to be able to keep up with the younger guys he generally hooked up with, but Jed doesn’t need any of that – he helps Nash realise it’s time to stop fighting it and start enjoying it, that he loves Nash for who he is and doesn’t care if he grows a bit of hair on his chest (and other places!)

There’s not a great deal of plot here and the story is fairly low angst, but there’s a bit of conflict near the end that arises when Nash has to deal with an unpleasant bullying incident at his school, and Jed is brought face-to-face with the sort of bigotry that kept him from coming out years ago. The author doesn’t sugar coat it or handwave everything better, but I have to say that I was (mentally) yelling at Jed to grow a pair and tell everyone to back off; another theme of the book is that while families can be wonderful, they can also be intrusive pains in the arse, and the way Jed’s nearest and dearest seem to think they have the right to know about every aspect of his life is infuriating.

It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that I’m going to enjoy a narration by Gary Furlong. He’s an extremely talented and versatile performer, a whizz with accents, and a terrific vocal actor who never fails to find the heart of the stories he narrates and the characters he portrays. His interpretations of Jed and Nash fit them really well and they’re clearly differentiated by a very small variation in pitch; Nash’s deeper voice is all sexy charm, and I could almost hear Jed blushing when Nash gets him all flustered ;) Their sizzling chemistry and the depth of their connection are strongly conveyed, and I like the way Mr. Furlong approaches the big emotional moments. He knows when to let rip (without going over the top) and when to hold back, and the late-book crisis is especially well judged. The small secondary cast is distinctly portrayed – and although I can’t say that Bridie sounds much like a three-year-old (voicing children of any age is tough!), she does have the kind of enthusiasm and single-mindedness one might associate with a child of that age, so it works.

Foxed is a thoroughly enjoyable and relatable story about the way life can change in the most unexpected of ways. It’s another great listen from the fabulous Hogan/Furlong duo and is highly recommended.

Caz

---

Buy Foxed by Jay Hogan on Amazon